Ong
Beng Seng Ong Beng Seng is a Malaysian citizen who is now living in Singapore. He was born into a wealthy family in Malaysia sometime in 1946. His family moved to Singapore when he was only 4 years old. By the early 1970s Ong had founded a business selling shipping insurance, earning his first fortune. Ong married Christina Ong, giving him a powerful father-in-law, Peter Fu Yun Siak who owns Kuo International which started off trading in timber and wax before moving into oil. Ong Beng Seng joined the Kuo International in 1975. In the early 1980s, he recognized the potential for entering the property market and formed Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) (http://www.hotelprop.com/). The company’s first acquisition is the Hilton Hotel in Singapore. This was followed by other hotels such as the Four Season’s Hotel in Singapore in 1984, Four Seasons Hotel, The Halkin Hotel and the Metropolitan in London in 1990. It was also during the 1990s that HPL launched its restaurant operations such as the trendy Nobu which opened in Metropolitan Hotel. Ong also invested in Planet Hollywood and won the franchise for the Asian region of the Hard Rock Café chain. Ong owns the Hard Rock Café in Beijing, Hong Kong, Bali, Jakarta, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Singapore. In 1995, HPL bought Chevron Hotel complex in Gold Coast, Australia. In the late 1990s, HPL began buying other properties including Concorde Hotels and Resorts in Malaysia. In 2001, Concorde Hotels and Resorts changed its name to HPL Hotels and Resorts. Among its properties are three HPL Hotels in Malaysia, an HPL hotel in Australia, the Hard Rock Hotel Franchise in Bali, Indonesia and Thailand, as well as hotels in Maldives and Cameron Highlands. HPL also has various residential properties in Singapore with their four major condominium developments in Nassim Jade, Seasons Park, Robertson Blue and Cuscaden Residence. Aside from hotels, Ong has majority shares of Singaporean steel maker, NatSteel. NatSteel makes steel in China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Philippines. Equally popular is Ong’s wife, Christina who owns the franchises of designer brands such as Donna Karan’s DKNY, Miu Miu, Calvin Klein, Guess, and Bulgari, Giorgio Armani among others. The Ongs’ stores are scattered around the globe including Sydney, London, Jakarta, and Singapore. Most recently, Ong was in the spotlight again when Ferrari picked Ital Auto – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Komoco Motors, owned by Ong, as the new importer of Ferrari in Singapore. It was Ong who brought to Singapore the first ever Formula One racing held in the dark last year. Sources: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history/He-Ja/Hotel-Properties-Ltd.html  |
A secretive yet flamboyant tycoon is what best characterizes Ong
Beng Seng, the Malaysian-Chinese hotelier who makes money from a
string of hotels he owns in Asia and Europe as well as several franchises
of Hard Rock Cafés in Asia.